Keep things safe and the Forum viable - Defamation

Everyone who uses the forum knows how good it can be.

Let's keep it that way.

Bagging people, even if you feel justified, can be very dangerous. The administrators of the forum take plenty of time and effort to keep the forum running for us. They should be thanked and respected for doing this for us. They should under no circumstances be put in the position where they can become liable for the publishing of libel.

Below is some information for everyone to keep in mind.

It is a difficult line between free speech and censorship. But clearly there is a legal line where publishers must err on the side of safety.

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The basics of defamation law are simple. It balances the right to protect one's reputation with the public right to freedom of speech. Defamation law allows people to sue those who say or publish false and malicious comments.
There are two types of defamation.
* Oral defamation (slander) for example comments or stories told to people.
* Published defamation (libel) for example a newspaper article, television broadcast or internet message.
You can defend yourself on the grounds that what you said is true. The full truth and you have proof. Even then, you still must show that you had a duty to say it. It is very difficult to use this defence. Truth alone is not an adequate defence.
It's not defamatory to criticise a person to their face or to send them a letter criticising them. It's only defamation when your comments are heard or read by someone else -- a "third party."

Sometimes it is not even safe to simply omit the name of the person or business you make disparaging remaks about. Inferrence carries as much weight as naming. For example if someone was to say that the building at 1 Veedub Street, Dubsville was poorly designed they can be seen to be guilty of libel in that they are inferring the professional incompetance of the architect responsible.

As for the internet…
The recent Gutnick v Dow Jones & Co Inc decision concerning the place of publication of Internet material shows that even if the offending material is hosted on overseas servers or produced abroad if it can be read in Australia the material (both the originator or author and the publisher) are liable to defamation proceedings in Australia. Gutnick secured this decision on the likely hood that only 300 people would have had the opportunity to see the article.

Hi Matt,

It is a shame that once again the strong arm of the law comes into play against the public for voicing an opinion in ref to certain matters....

It dishartens me that we (citizens) can not warn others that an organisation or person/s may be of an untrustworthy nature or likely to defraud the community through means of deceipt or deception.

However that said, to see this forum closed through comment; that could be or are just and true would be a shame for all concerned; regardless of the truth.

A once great person said, "The law and justice are two long lost cousions that will never meet!"

I hope this forum doesn't close through censorship or defarmation/liable.


Regards

Mick Hall

[Edited on 28-5-2003 by kombiluva]

As far as I know, we will not be closing. So keep posting for now.

More as it happens, within what we can let you know (sub-judice et al).

Unfortunately, the new defamation policy is remarkably simple - any post treading anywhere near defamation will be either deleted or moved as soon as ANY moderator finds said alleged post - we used to discuss these things, but not now.

I'm sorry for where we are now...

Andrew

Sounds rather severe, but I understand why you would react this way. Matt's listing of the letter of the law ignores the fact that, with the modern commercial law scene, even stating the truth can have you facing an expensive law suit - unless you're a politician, in which case you can utterly destroy the life of anyone you choose, truth and facts entirely unnecessary, even to the point of forcing them to suicide...

i bet the govenor general wished the media had taken all this into account before hanging him in the newspapers. when *hit is thrown *hit sticks, no matter what you say after the fact. this forum should not be used to bag people, no matter how bad you think they may be. Try it through some other media, like talking to the guys first maybe, hey!!